Pandemic in the world influenced not only in calm until this course of ordinary life, painfully affected the economy of states, but seriously reached and religious activities and related services related services.
State media reported on Sunday that Saudi Arabia will again begin to accept vaccinated foreign pilgrims who want to visit the sacred Islamic city of Mecca, about 18 months after the closure of the border due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Saudi Printing Agency (SPA), from Monday, the authorities of the Ministry who are responsible for the coordination of foreign pilgrims will begin “gradually receive requests from different countries of the world.” His AFP agency quotes.
Umra is a pilgrimage that Muslim can accomplish at any time, unlike Hajj (held once a year), and usually attracts millions of people from around the world annually.
Pandemic COVID-19 strongly prevented two of these types of pilgrimage, namely, they are key sources of income for the kingdom – during normal time they give the state execution of the Kingdom of about $ 12 billion (10.3 billion euros) per year.
Before Sunday, it was announced on the opening of the borders for the Umra, only vaccinated pilgrims living in Saudi Arabia had the right to receive permission to die. And from the beginning of the Pandemic and Hajj was held on the abbreviated program.
In the SPA report, with reference to the Deputy Minister of Saudi Arabia Abdulfatthah Bin Suleiman Mashata, it is said that all foreign pilgrims should be immunized by a vaccine recognized in Saudi Arabia, and are obliged to agree to quarantine.
By the way, Er-Riyad has spent billions, trying to create a tourism industry from scratch, organizing this in the framework of the efforts to diversify its economy dependent on oil. Once the recovery kingdom first began to issue tourist visas in 2019 in the framework of the ambitious desire to update its global image and attract travelers into the country.
The Government of Saudi Arabia also accelerated this nationwide campaign of vaccination, also aimed at the revival of tourism and other sectors of the economy affected by a pandemic, including to revive sports competitions and entertainment events.
It should be noted that vaccination is obligatory here for anyone who wants to go to work in public and private institutions, including educational institutions and entertainment institutions, as well as to enjoy public transport.
in Saudi Arabia registered about 532 thousand cases of coronavirus and more than 8 thousand 300 lethal outcomes.
Now there is hope that against the background of the “voluntary-forced” fight against coronavirus in the kingdom, the treasury of Saudi Arabia will again become replenished at the expense of pilgrims.